The New Altar of Worship

The New Altar of Worship is not so new after all... is it?

Money. Sex. Drugs.
Power. Wealth. Influence.
Fame. Status. Largesse.
Avarice. Aggrandizement. Conceit.
Logic. Reason. Sense.
Science. Technology. Facts.
Evidence. Memory. Data.
Statistics. Mathematics. Physics.
etc.

Names - one and all - and -

utterly - powerless - one and all.

Except -

one and all - are - were - and always will be - names of power.

Names that we have imbued with meaning and value - that are otherwise inherently meaningless and valueless. Names that we - as vote bearing members of communities and societies - have collectively decided - mean something other than a string of nonsense vocables - i.e. I don't give a flying fuck about fucking fuck.

Because - what exactly - does that particular phrase - mean?

Doesn't that particular phrase look and sound like nonsense vocables?

Yet, many of you believe that you know what that particular phrase means.

How?

Is it - perhaps - because you and I have agreed to the collective use of a unifying bridge? In this case - a unifying bridge composed of vocables that we have collectively decided - mean something.

But alas.

We've taken our unifying bridge one step further.

We've put some vocables - in a class of their own. A class of special categories, if you will. Some vocables in this class are permitted utterance by some kind and no other. Other vocables in this class are permitted use by some kind and no other. Other vocables in this class, transform meaning and value, depending on which kind utters or uses, these vocables.

Even so.

There is a special category of vocables more powerful than these.

(Which are incontrovertibly powerful indeed, for vocables that inspire reprisal, retaliation, and retribution, for their mere utterance or usage, ostensibly 'impermissibly' or by a so-called 'unpermitted' kind, is no insignificant matter for all of us, as vote bearing members of communities and societies that collectively decide the meaning and value of all that composes our unifying bridge.)

These oh-so-special vocables signify to vote bearing members of communities and societies - that these are the vocables our communities and societies have determined - are adored, admired, emulated. Whereby and whereupon - we - as vote bearing members of communities and societies - praise, trumpet, worship - these oh-so-special vocables - above all else.

Given that no vocable possesses intrinsic meaning or value - we artificially imbue extraordinary meaning and extraordinary value to otherwise nonsense vocables - to compose this very oh-so-special category of vocables that transforms otherwise nonsense vocables into Names of Power.

For all vocables are nonsense prior to our collective determination (vis a vis our vote bearing status as members of communities and societies) of meaning and value, that we assign, award, imbue, and so on and so forth, otherwise impotent strings of vowels, consonants, letters, characters, symbols, and so on and so forth.

(Notwithstanding, that our assignation, award, and imbuement of meaning and value to vocables, are subject to the inexorable caprice of complex contributing factors, such as, but not limited to, the myopism of the following - societies, politics, histories, cultures, geographies, epochs, languages, beliefs, assumptions, etc., such that, from one moment to the next, some vocables pass in and out of usage and utterance, with nary a whisper from logophiles and undead bridge traversers alike.)

So.

What does it mean that some vocables possess meaning and value so potent and so sovereign as to warrant their assignation as Names of Power?

What does it mean, that upon their assignation as Names of Power, these vocables compose our not-so-new-after-all Alter of Worship?

For how many of us - fore our not-so-new-after-all Alter of Worship - worship, idolize, and immortalize -

Money. Sex. Drugs.
Power. Wealth. Influence.
Fame. Status. Largesse.
Avarice. Aggrandizement. Conceit.
Logic. Reason. Sense.
Science. Technology. Facts.
Evidence. Memory. Data.
Statistics. Mathematics. Physics.
etc.?

Indeed -

What does it mean, that the meaning and value that we've imbued these Names of Power, are such, that we adore, admire, emulate - these - above all else? That we praise, trumpet, worship - these - above all else?

For what else do we idolize and immortalize - at Altars of Worship - than Gods and Goddesses, Deities and Spirits, Creators and Destroyers...?

Verily, against a tide as powerful as this, wholeheartedly endorsed, lauded, validated, and legitimized by entire communities and societies, with zealous, ardent, and fanatical fervor...

who among us takes the road less traveled...

and eschews Names of Power...

for Names of Virtue?

* * Advisory: please be advised that the following Addendum contains strong content and language that may offend some. Enjoy! - M. * *

Addendum

As vote bearing members of communities and societies - we value Names of Power, such as those above - more than Names of Virtue... i.e.

Authenticity. Compassion. Generosity.

Forgiveness. Kindness. Sincerity.

Hope. Charity. Faith.

Nobility. Dignity. Respect.

Truth. Grace. Honor.

etc.

Notwithstanding that we've perverted virtues into counterfeits and forgeries and shams and frauds - by transforming real and true virtues - into fabricated ephemera that bear little resemblance to real and true virtues. For we - as vote bearing members of communities and societies - have collectively decided - to reduce the meaning and value of virtues - to meaningless valueless impotent vocables.

Indeed:

What does it mean, when newsmakers are entertainers and our non-entertainer newsmakers make news by entertaining?

What the fuck?

What does it mean, when news is entertainment and non-entertainment news make news by being entertainment?

Seriously?

I don't give a flying rip about fuckers doing fucked knows what.

Because fuckers doing fucked knows what - are - entertainers - and entertainment is not life. Entertainment is a respite for life - not life - itself - nor virtue - itself. And real and true, humble and great - entertainers - respect this - by demonstrating and expressing extraordinary gratitude for their gift to each other and us - the gift of respite - which they neither demand nor extort - exorbitant money nor fame for.

For real and true, humble and great kind - in every walk of life, everywhere - seek real and true, humble and great virtues.

But - conspicuously 'hidden' in plain sight, among entertainers and newsmakers, are also slick unreality plastics and untruth tellers and flim flam fakes - whose currencies are wholly artificial and entirely fabricated - so as to bilk us of our virtue - to gild fuckers with ever more ostentatious displays of pyrite. Because some unscrupulous charlatans and shameless entertainers would rather bluster and blather about smoke and mirrors and schemes and cons - than be real and true and humble and virtuous.

Holy fucking hell.

Does anyone else feel like they've woken up in a rabbit hole? Through the looking glass? In the twilight zone? Through some alternate universe where everything is fucked up beyond all belief?

When the fuck did up become down?

When did entertainment become news?

When did news become entertainment?

When did leaders become entertainers?

When did entertainers become leaders?

When the fuck did refuse become gold?

When did reality become a three ring circus for ring masters to control and the public to buy?

When did truth become a fun house of mirrors for the public to believe?

When did money, sex, power, and fame become our moral ideals?

When did our moral ideals become conceit, aggrandizement, and unfettered avarice?

Do you know who and what I don't give a flying fuck about?

Everyone and everything paraded in front of all of us as gods of Money, Sex, Power, and Fame. (Not to mention: when did our rampant polytheism morph into the Glorification of the Rationalization, Justification, and Legitimization of the Unqualifiably Immoral Exploitation of any and all Kind?)

Because their hell on earth is making a fucked up mess of my Heaven on Earth.

So:

If you want your Heaven on Earth back -

take it back.

Because our Heaven on Earth doesn't belong to the New Altar of Worship -

it belongs to all allkind.

- M.

More

'People don't write music - it's given to them' - Hank Williams, from I Saw The Light trailer (more at IMDb).

(Note: in the interests of full disclosure, I am an undisputed fan of many forms of music sung by one and all, anywhere and everywhere. Nevertheless, the use of this quote is not in any way whatsoever, an endorsement of this movie. It is however, the observation of a truth that is often overlooked by aggrandizers and god-makers in pursuit of the immoral ideals of Fame and Money.)

Consider:

If this is true - has it been true - since time before time?

If this is true - is it still true?

If this is true - what else is given to others - to lay claim to?

If this is true - what else is given to others - to perform?

Is a speech - not a performance? Is a book - not a performance? Is a concert - not a performance? Is a public appearance - not a performance? Is a pronouncement on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram - not a performance? Is an interview, a documentary, an article, a competition - not a performance? Is a crusade, a movie, an expose, a tour - not a performance?

In the case of someone who expresses such a sentiment:

If it is not true of one's self - why would one say it of one's self?

Indeed:

Aren't those selves for whom such statements are true - who speak this truth for all to hear - real bravehearts among us?

From my heart to yours - to all bravehearts - everywhere - thank you.

For real courage and honesty - such as that which is exemplified by bravehearts who speak the truth for all to hear - is hard to come by.

- M.

Note

A person: Noam Chomsky (more @ Wiki)

A movie: Idiocracy (more @ IMDb; more @ Wiki)

A sermon: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards (more @ Wiki; read here, p.78 @ Project Gutenberg)

- M.